Amarech Amege is one of thousands of other women in Ethiopia making a journey of six miles carrying 40 to 50kg (nearly 8 stone) of eucalyptus wood on her back. She does this six days a week to bring in a tiny income of less than 50p per day.

'The sun burns our heads. Our legs are suffering from walking in the stones and our backs are broken down.'

But Amarech says that her faith in God sustains her in the long hours collecting wood on the mountain.

'God is on my side. I pray every day before I leave home. My children read the Bible to me. We don't want our children to work as wood carriers. We want them to go to school. We will bear their problems.'

I was struck by Amerech's faith and courage in circumstances that would make many of us in our society crumble. As we begin our journey through Lent, it drew me to the words of Psalm 55, v22, where we are told to 'Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you'; and also to the words of Jesus as written in Matthew Chapter 11, v28 of the NRSV translation of the Bible, 'Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.'

Both these quotes brought home to me why it is that people such as Amerech and many others are able to bear great burdens. They do it in the faith and love of God. It is that same God on whom we reflect in our Lenten walk to the cross. I wonder how often we look back on events in our lives and marvel at how we were given the strength to deal with our own burdens and thank God?

Lent is a time not only to do just that but also to renew our relationship with God and his Son Jesus Christ, and give thanks for him.

Margaret